introduction

Introduction

This semester I successfully completed a cultural diversity course at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. This course studied the aspects of racism in the United States. This course proved itself to a revelation for me, but it was presented from a secular point of view. I wanted to gain a Christian point of view for the information that was presented, so I started to discuss things with my fellow Christians and was met with mixed opinions. It was then that I began to sense that there was a problem--one that deserves more attention. I

was on a mission to find the underlying cause of the issue. I had unknowingly took a step towards attempting to achieve unity within the ministry that otherwise may have gone unnoticed.As part of that course we were required, though later on in the course, to read an article where Christianity confronts racism in the Assembly of God Tabernacle right outside the city of Atlanta, Georgia. For years the church kept running from the integration of blacks into the Pentecostal church, and had eventually made way for a multicultural church to form under its roof. The following is an except from the article:
Yet for all the utopian imagery, for all the hope and faith that the congregation has moved beyond race, the life of the church is still driven by race in countless ways.
Most everyone has made accommodations of some kind. The whites, mostly native Southerners, have been forced to confront their racial assumptions and cede some control over church governance and liturgy. The blacks have ventured from the safe harbor of the African-American church and, in many cases, have suppressed lifetimes of racial resentment and distrust.
The little compromises can be detected any Sunday. They show in the frustration of some black members with the regimentation of the morning service, which opens with exactly thirty minutes of singing and usually lasts precisely two hours.
�There are times when we�re praising God and then they just cut it off,� complains Robert Lawson [an elderly African-American tenor]. �You can�t do that. You can�t put God in a box.�
Some whites, meanwhile, dart glances at black churchgoers who they feel may be worshipping too exuberantly. They search for delicate words to explain (Sack, 6-7).

How many times are instances like this present for us in the ministry? How many individuals are holding beliefs and attitudes that could compare with those above? The answers may surprise us, but we know that there must be a solution or a set of solutions for the problem. This report is designed to address just that.
A survey was conducted (see Appendix A) to see what the consensus was with specific issues surround racism was. Only twelve individuals were given a chance to participate in the survey, out of which only five responded. The scope of the audience for the survey was kept to a respectable minimum out of fears that the project may be compromised in its entirety if the entire ministry were to be surveyed. Eighty percent responded that racism is a problem that Christians must deal with because we are part of society, while twenty percent responded no. When asked if this why this is an issue that we should deal with only four individuals responded: seventy-five percent responded yes, twenty-five percent responded no because issues of the heart are more important.
During my observation and research process of this report I had noticed several instances that would be considered problematic by most individuals. I know I am not going to point any fingers or make any judgments against anyone because I am just as guilty when it comes to these types of matters as anyone else. Therefore, for the purpose of this report I have conveniently kept any names confidential, known only to those individuals that were present or have heard about such situations.

Contents:

Abstract

Executive Summary

Introduction

Observance at an Outreach

Thanksgiving Dinner

Demographics: Representative of the Whole???

Racism in the Bible???

Aaron and Miriam Talk against Moses

Paul Warns Peter about Favortism

Conclusions and Recommendations

What Would Jesus Do???